


The Sinner Desires It But The Saint Does Not

by creatureofhobbit



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-04
Updated: 2017-05-04
Packaged: 2018-10-27 20:26:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10816098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creatureofhobbit/pseuds/creatureofhobbit
Summary: Oswald starts to have second thoughts about revenge on Ed.





	The Sinner Desires It But The Saint Does Not

No one took a second glance at Oswald Cobblepot as he sat on the bench, hiding behind his newspaper containing the front page article about Ed Nygma being suspected of his murder. Why would they? All of Gotham now believed him dead, and wouldn’t expect to see him.

Valerie Vale had written a piece about his career as mayor, and had gone on to speculate about who might go on to succeed him, going so far as to wonder if the position of Gotham’s mayor was cursed. Oswald read it all, swallowing his irritation at the factual errors, and noting with interest that there were no current leads as to the whereabouts of Nygma, which would make his current task of killing him that bit more difficult.

But he would manage, there would come a day when Ed was standing before him just as Oswald had stood before Ed on the bridge, and this time Oswald would be the one pulling the trigger. It might seem difficult to him now, but Oswald had faced what seemed to be impossible tasks before, and had always come out on top. He’d been worried about having to face Fish Mooney again once he knew she was alive once more, but that had worked out for him in the end…

Because penguins eat fish. 

Ed’s voice sounded in his head, reminding Oswald of how he had been worried about what would happen if he ever saw Fish Mooney again, and Ed had been the one who had made him realise that he didn’t need to be, that he could stand up to her, could beat her.

But he wouldn’t think of that, because thinking of the good times with Ed would just derail him. Ed certainly wasn’t thinking of them when he stood on the bridge, facing Oswald with the gun in his hand. He would put them out of his mind, try and decide exactly what the best way would be to hunt him down and kill him before Jim Gordon and friends got to him first.

 

It might have been simpler, Oswald thought at one point, just to let the GCPD deal with him after all, let Ed eventually be imprisoned for his murder. But Oswald also knew he would derive no satisfaction from that; he wanted to personally take Ed down, to be able to watch Ed’s face as he knew that this was it for him, that there was no going back and that Oswald, the person he thought he had finished off, had got the better of him. If he left it to the GCPD, there would be no satisfaction in it for Oswald.

The problem was how to get himself into the position that he could kill Ed; from what he understood of the news, Ed had not been seen for several days and it was not clear that he was even in Gotham. However, Oswald suspected that he would not be far away, that he was more than likely in the city somewhere. He had to think how Ed would think, try and work things out and plan like him. Except Ed was always the strategist and planner in their relationship, not him. It had been Ed who had realised that Oswald could still win the mayoral race, in fact he could achieve a better victory, doing so honestly without the need to resort to bribes as he had thought he would need, and it had been Ed who had figured out the truth behind the Red Hood incident, exposing Butch while understanding how it had to be done, that it had to be clear to all watching that Oswald knew nothing of it, so as not to hurt his reputation as mayor.

To beat him at his own game, Oswald knew that what he needed….was Ed. And as he thought back over all the memories the two had shared, suddenly he wasn’t so sure he wanted to kill Ed anymore.

 

Oswald arrived at the bridge, knowing he had come to the right place. He watched Ed’s face as he turned around, realised who was walking towards him.

“It can’t be,” Ed choked out. “You’re dead.”

“I was going to let you think that,” Oswald began, “but I realised that was wrong. And what I said to you when we were here before, that was wrong too. It’s not true that I’m the one who made you what you are and that you’d be nothing without me. You’re the one who made me what I am. You’re the one who helped me to realise I didn’t need to worry about Fish, who helped me to become mayor. I’m the one who is nothing without you. And I was going to come after you, to try and kill you, but I realised that I needed a plan, and the one who was always good at coming up with plans was you. I realised that I needed you.”

“It’s really you?” Ed asked, staring at Oswald, taking a tentative step, still appearing unsure if he was real.

“It’s really me,” Oswald confirmed.

“Answer me a riddle, and if you can answer it correctly, I will know. It may only be given, not taken or bought. The sinner desires it, but the saint does not. What is it?” Ed asked, and Oswald knew the answer. 

“Forgiveness,” he replied, and he knew that he and Ed could forgive each other, could be friends again.


End file.
